Black Coffee is known for the way it blurs fabrication and fashion. The sharp structural designs are characterised by complex, layered shapes that yield a fastidious fashion sensibility which is restrained and bold. A design goes beyond adornment, often melding the pattern with the body in a meticulous feat of engineering. Despite exacting geometries, garments transition effortlessly between day and evening wear. Jacques van der Watt showed his first collection at SA Fashion Week in 1999. He was a pioneer that heralded fashion as a standalone industry in South Africa when it was restricted to occasion-specific garments. He has been nominated five times for the SA Fashion Awards, winning in 2001 and 2007. In 2009, he was awarded the Mercedes Benz Art Award with an installation that was shown at the Daimler Contemporary Gallery in Berlin. Black Coffee is the 2017 winner of the SAFW Cape Wools SA Designer Challenge.